Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to slip into his role as an actor to emphasize what a strong leader he will be for California. In his State of the State address, for example, he promised to streamline government agencies, but not by just "moving some boxes around." No, he promised to "blow them up."

During the recall campaign, he said he wanted to become known as "The Collectinator," for getting more federal money for the state. But from the looks of his latest shell games with the car tax and his proposal to "rebase" Proposition 98, shortchanging our schools, his latest scheme for university freshman admission rationing will only add to his growing reputation as "The Flim-flam-inator."

That's bad news for Cal State San Marcos, all our community colleges and the students who will be caught in the middle.

In his 2004-05 budget proposal, Schwarzenegger proposes a reduction of $21.1 million to the CSU system, by requiring 10 percent of CSU-eligible entering freshmen to be redirected to community colleges under a dual-admission program. California State University Chancellor Charles Reed estimates that 4,200 CSU-bound freshmen will be affected. At Cal State San Marcos, about 80 academically eligible entering freshman would have been redirected to a community college last fall.

On the surface, the plan looks reasonable. Unfortunately, the proposal does not address the unmet enrollment demand facing the CSU. From fall 2001 to fall 2003, the entering freshman class at Cal State San Marcos grew by 47 percent, or nearly 300 students.

After last year's budget cuts, CSUSM, together with seven other CSU campuses, including San Diego, Fullerton and Long Beach, implemented admission controls to maintain the quality of academic programs by limiting enrollment. They are doing so within a CSU policy of assuring access to academically eligible students in local service areas, while raising admission standards for out-of-area applicants.

I find no evidence that the governor is aware that the CSU already is redirecting students. One can only conclude that his plan for a 10 percent redirection quota is an attempt to put the best face on slashing an additional $21.1 million from the CSU budget, which is already inadequate to serve the number of students wanting to enroll.

His proposed funding of a 3 percent enrollment increase for the community colleges will not be enough to accommodate the additional redirected students, placing an even greater burden on the community colleges.

Perhaps what is most disturbing of all about the governor's budget is his call for a $53.5 million reduction associated with a 5 percent increase in the student-to-faculty ratio. Students will pay more for getting less, and the colleges and universities will be getting less for doing more.

I hope our governor will be a successful Collectinator and get us out of this budget mess without having to play these shell games. President Bush has not yet expressed an interest in becoming California's "Benefactorator," but this is an election year, and there are a lot of electoral votes out here on the Left Coast.

Richard Riehl is director of enrollment services at Cal State San Marcos. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the university.